Report: ZombiU Sequel Unlikely Due To Lack Of Profitability

Despite being one of the more noteworthy releases from the Wii U's launch line up, Ubisoft's chairman and CEO Yves Guillemot says that a sequel is not on the way.

According to a report from GamesIndustry.biz, Guillemot said that ZombiU was not even close to being profitable, despite being a popular Wii U title. As such, there are no plans for a sequel, and Ubisoft is hesitant about the future of its support for Wii U.

Guillemot spoke of Rayman Legends' delay and change from a Wii U exclusive to a multi-platform release. Guillemot said, "We must find a way to ensure the creativity of those games could have a big enough audience. We hope it will take off. At the moment, we've said 'let's do through Christmas and see where we are from there.'"

The lack of a ZombiU sequel is somewhat contradictory to a Tweet from ZombiU's creative director Jean-Philippe Caro who said the prototyping process for a sequel had already begun began in May. Caro did caution that a sequel wasn't guaranteed shortly after that initial Tweet, however.

Our TakeWe're fans of the Wii U, and have high expectations for the future of the console, even if we weren't big fans of ZombiU. It's hard to argue with numbers, however, and if Ubisoft is struggling to sell games on the system, it's likely other third-party publishers and developers are as well.Every new console has its growing pains, but the Wii U's seem to be particularly painful. That being said, it will take a lot to knock over a giant as imposing as Nintendo. People might be vocal with complaints about Nintendo playing it safe by announcing so many returns to familiar franchises at E3, but what they say with their wallets is typically contradictory. Nintendo is still in the game, even if it is having a hard time.

Freaking loved Zombie U! It was an underappreciated gem, and I honestly think it's one of the best launch games I've ever played imo. Such a shame they aren't giving it a chance as a franchise, as there is so much more potential there.

I thought ZombiU was alright. It got repetitive toward the end, but it had ideas that could have been fleshed out and refined for a good sequel. Too bad the chances of that happening are looking slim now.

ZombiU has sold 460,000 copies, which (at $60 a game) has generated $27,600,000. Even factoring the lower prices for shipping to retail, and Nintendo licensing fees, Ubisoft should have been able to recoup costs for that game. There's no way in hell that game cost more than $10 million to develop. It's a solid game, but it clearly was developed on a smaller budget. Maybe if they hadn't changed it halfway through into a completely different game...

At any rate, this is a perfect example of why Nintendo gamers need to be more open-minded than "just Mario and Zelda."

Peolpe will always think of something to complain about, be it WiiU's graphical power, XBox-1's compulsory use of Kinect, PS4's box design or just about evrything they think can be done better even without seeing the respective merits.

I know Nintendo consoles are famous for gamers not supporting so much third party games, but lets face it, it all started back when third party ditched Nintendo in favor of disc based machines. They are the ones who changed and they need to win Nintendo's fan base back, certainly delaying and then canceling exclusivity for Rayman WiiU is another wrong step. Then ther is a bit of guilt from Nintendo's side too, they need to take developers and back them up infront of gamers so they get interest in third party games.

Nintendo can host promotionslike giving away discs with demos to Nintendo's games when you preorder a third party game, a simple action hat could restore sales.

Nintendo having a hard time is definitely a understatement right now. I have a Wii U I'm just waiting for a game I enjoy to go with it. Nintendo can only provide a fresh take on old games so many times before fans get sick of it. There's nothing out I enjoyed for it other than Lego Undercover & I already beat that so I just let my brother use the thing for Netflix now. Here's to hoping Nintendo can pull some new ideas out of their butt.